How does one change the boot device on a trueNAS Windows virtual machine?

[rodneysing]

How does one change the boot device on a trueNAS Windows virtual machine? I spun up a Windows VM, from a Windows 10 iso. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be way, after the install, to boot from disk, and ultimately remove the CD ROM – Windows comes up from the CD ROM boot sector.

In the past, switching boot devices required getting into the BIOS. Except I don’t see a way to do that on TrueNAS.

Ideas?

Thanks!
-Rodney

[oxyde]

What Truenas version exactly?
I used virtualization only on Core 13.3, and as i remember (as you mentioned) i just changed the device priority after the SO installation, verified that the system boot properly, and then i delete the install device without issue

[HoneyBadger]

Hey @rodneysing

For the moment, you can expand the VM properties, go into the Devices section, and remove the CDROM device. We’re working on further improvements to the VM workflow.

You can also add a vote to the Feature Request for this enhancement here:

Virtual Machine - Stop the need to add and remove the CD-ROM device

Problem/Justification Whenever I create a Virtual Machine I add a CD-ROM device so I can mount the ISO and boot of it, I then setup the OS. [image] Once the OS is setup, I have to immediately shut the OS down and then remove the CD-ROM device from the Virtual Machine to prevent booting of that ISO again. Adding and removing a CD-ROM device to have the presence of a CD-ROM or not is not user friendly. My solution would be to add the following features Allow ejecting the CD/ISO and keep the…

[rodneysing]

I’m on scale EE. When I do as you describe, the system does not boot at all.

-Rodney

[rodneysing]

Hi HoneyBadger,

I’ve tried removing the CDROM as a device, but when I do, the new Windows VM does not boot at all. I’m not using any of the display tools provided by IX to confirm this, as I’m more familiar with running and prefer running headless with Microsoft Remote Desktop client. But both display exactly the same behavior. Thinking this is more than feature request, but rather a defect/bug.

-Rodney

[SmallBarky]

Try using the display tool from iX and set it to wait until it connects before booting VM. Should be in VM settings of Scale. You should be able to interrupt the boot and choose boot device. After you have that set and the correct boot order, then go back to RDP.

[rodneysing]

Thanks SmallBarky,

Don’t see any control for the iX display re: setting a wait to intercede connection and booting. I’m using the latest EE. I see you are at -13.0-U6.3. Wondering if this could be the difference?

-Rodney

[SmallBarky]

I think it is under display? options?
Virtualization | TrueNAS Documentation Hub. I thought it was a checkbox. I don’t have a scale VM to look through the menus

[SmallBarky]

Try going to the devices then drives and changing the boot order. It goes by the ID?

Link to video showing section. It may help with what I mean.

How to install a VM on TrueNAS Scale

[rodneysing]

So I followed these instructions to the letter, no issues, for spinning up an Ubuntu VM. The last thing I need to figure out is how to get the VNC screen share viewer to connect to the new Ubuntu VM. Don’t seem to be able to ssh to the new VM either.

So, what appears to be the issue is installing the Windows 10 Enterprise iso, which is part of my workflow. I went back to try the exact same steps from the Linux install on the Windows 10, and while it spun up, I could not delete the CDROM the way I did for Ubuntu. So it didn’t work for Windows – puzzling.

Thoughts?

And thanks very much for the help!
-Rodney

[SmallBarky]

With the Win 10 VM off, go into the VM pages of TrueNAS and try to change the boot order of the CDROM, disk, etc. It goes by the ID number and should be mentioned in the documents of TrueNAS

[rodneysing]

Think I tried that, but will give it another try, by using a higher ID number. Thanks!

-Rodney